Southern California -- this just in

Dorner manhunt: Bear Valley schools closed as search continues

Bear Valley schools will be closed Friday as the search for a fugitive ex-police officer suspected of killing three people and wounding two others continues, district officials announced.

"Due to the ongoing law enforcement
investigation, and the uncertainty about the whereabouts of Chris
Dorner, all schools in the BVUSD will be closed today," Bear Valley Unified School District Supt. Kurt Madden wrote on the district's Facebook page.

Schools were locked down Thursday afternoon as authorities scoured the Big Bear area after a truck belonging to Christopher Dorner was found burning on a forest road.

The search also prompted the early closure Thursday of Bear Mountain Resort, but resort officials said it and the Snow Summit resort would be open Friday "with the approval the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department."

Dorner, 33, is wanted in connection with a double homicide in Irvine
on Sunday and the shooting of three police officers, one fatally, in
Riverside County on Thursday. Authorities described him as "armed and
extremely dangerous," and alerts about him were issued across the state
and in Nevada.

Authorities also said they found a rambling manifesto published on what they believe is Dorner's Facebook page that threatened
"unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" against police.

About 125 officers were deployed to Big Bear to follow Dorner's tracks and
conduct door-to-door searches. But by late Thursday, the search had proved fruitless.

The ongoing search could be complicated by a winter storm expected to
hit the area on Friday. The National Weather Service predicted between 4
and 9 inches of snow, with wind gusts up to 50 mph and less than a
quarter-mile visibility at times. About an inch of snow had fallen by 6 a.m. Friday.

Photo: San Bernardino County Sheriff deputies talk to a resident along Switzerland Avenue as they continue to look for murder suspect Christopher Dorner in Big Bear Lake on Friday. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times